Will you go to the dance with me?
by Xannytoes
Summary: Ash attempts to ask May to the dance. Easy enough, right? Oh you're dead wrong. Advanceshipping, AshxMay. Entry for the Advancers Advanceshipping contest.


**Author's note:** My submission for the Advancer's Unofficial Fanfic/Fanart/AMV contest. I dedicate this little piece to Wubbzy, who is a true inspiration to the Advanceshipping community.

* * *

What was he even doing here?

The white door before him was practically the entrance to a sealed fortress. The path in front of him seemed to give off a 'lava' feel. For a moment, even the wind might have threatened to throw him to the skies.

And yet, it didn't. The entire world wasn't going to come crashing down because he wanted to ask May Maple to the dance.

Even though it felt like it.

He gulped down his fear. Adjusted his jacket a little. Checked for perspiration. Good. None for the moment. He was as trimmed and ready as a young boy of fifteen could possibly be. Yessiree, he'd checked everything over a million times over. His breath, his clothes, even his hair. It had been a grand old battle, but Ash had succeeded in taming the wild beast.

 _Three hours of pain and ripping out hair, and for some reason that feels like nothing compared with what I'm out to do._

Easy now, easy does it. Everything was cool. Everything was fine. All he had to do was raise his left hand, knock gently on the wood and wait for his future princess to descend and-

 _Wait, future princess? Did I really just think that!? Arceus, I'm turning into Brock, aren't I?_

He gulped again. Alrighty, keep it together. Just had to knock on the door. A gentle tap to summon his girl. Err, his girlfriend. Friend who was a girl! Ugh, shaking the stupid lovey-dovey thought from his head, Ash raised his hand. Good, that was half the task complete. Now to finish it off…

 _Jeez, what's with me? Why is it so difficult asking your best friend to the dance? I just got back from the Pokémon League, feeling as rough as Giratina in the morning. So what's making this so damned tough?_

Was it because his voice got a little shaky when May was around? Or that her lavender scent seemed to overpower everything else when she was present? Was it because her eyes seemed to follow the flow of her hair, the giggle of her laugh and the light of her smile? Even his appetite faded around her.

But why did he do these things? And why did he feel so mad when Drew or some other guy dared to even look at her? Rage just boiled in his stomach and he found it difficult to watch if anyone but himself made her smile.

Could it be because… he was falling ill?

What kind of sickness was this? And if he was dying, then why the heck did he think asking May to the dance was a cure? In fact, watching Drew ask her with one of his roses only seemed to worsen it… and yet when she turned him down, it was like all his troubles had faded away.

Plus, seeing Drew run away crying had been the highlight of his day.

Either way, he wasn't sure why he was feeling like this, but the one thing he was sure about was that asking May to the dance would make him feel a heck of a lot better. Somehow…

 _Come on, you can do it. Remember what Brock said! Think about it like it's the toughest Pokémon battle of your life! You're staring down the Champion of the Pokémon League, and you've only got Pikachu left. The victory's there for the taking. You just gotta reach out and grab i-_

Ash knocked on the door.

 _AGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGH!_

There was still time to escape. He looked behind him. Brock was in position, hiding in Caroline Maple's hedge row. Pair of binoculars in hand, with a bike leaning next to him. If he ran now, he could make it and the two could flee the scene. He raised his hand to signal Brock to prepare the escape vehicle, only to hear footsteps thundering down the stairs.

 _Oh no. Too late to back out now. Is it? No, I can make it. I ca-_

Ash turned, only to spot his spikey-haired friend fleeing the scene on his bike. Ash sweat-dropped.

Behind him, the door creaked open. A pair of footsteps stepped out of the doorway. Ash froze.

 _This is it. No backing out now. Come on, you've practiced this a dozen times over. You can do this. You can do this!_

Ash turned, eyes closed.

"Err… hey May. Hey, listen… I'm err- sorry I came by at a bit of a late hour but I was err- well you know, wondering if you were doing anything, y'know Saturday evening. I mean if you are it's totally cool and everything, but err- if you aren't doing anything and you want to, y'know, I mean if you don't want to then that's cool too but err, basically I wanted to ask if maybe, you wanted to… gotothedancewithme?"

Ash waited for the inevitable.

"I beg your pardon young man?"

"I said I was wondering if you wanted to… to…"

That voice. It was way too deep to be May's. Oh no. Oh please no. Oh Arceus please save him from this fate not that not that anything but tha-

Norman Maple stood in the doorway, arms crossed, eyebrow raised.

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 **Author's Note:** And there we have it, a cute little one-shot I wrote up whilst I was on the train to Cannes. Also happens to be my entry to the Advancer's Advanceshipping Contest over at the Advancers (which I just so happen to be judging :D). But yeah, I hope you guys enjoyed. Expect another humorous one-shot in a couple of days. And maybe even the next chapter in The Return to Hoenn (it is coming and it's almost ready to go, promise).

Thanks for reading! Feel free to follow and review if you've got a spare minute. Thanks!


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